
Pass t" ^- 
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A SERMON: 



PREACHED BEFORE THE 



Ittlf^a (iJ0tt0j:<?0»ti0n^ of l^pmittg, §. % 



ON THE DEATH OF 



PRESIDENT imCOM 



BY THE 



EEY. GHAKLES EAT, 



PASTOR OF THE PRKSBYTERIAW CHURCH. 




AI»RIL lOtli, 1©6S 



g UFFfiLO: 
k. M, CLAPP «fc CO'S STEAM PRINTING HOUSE. 

OFFICE or THE MORNING EXPUESS. 

186 5. 






gr^fafory Sl[0tie, 



The following Discourse, Resolutions, and Poem, prepared by special 
appointment, for the great occasion, and presented to the Patriot Citi- 
zens of Wyoming, N. Y., April 19th, 1865, were unanimously approved 
by the crowded concourse who listened to them, and, without a dis- 
senting voice, ordered to be published. 

M. WEED, 

D. CAMERON, 
H. T. BROOKS, 

E. PALMER, 
J. RIDGE, 

Publishing Committet. 
Wyoming, N. T., April 19th, 1865. 



L 



A SERMON 



ON THE DEATH OF 



Wttsi&tni %'\n(»lti. 



" Know ye not that there is a Prince and a great man fallen 
this day in Israel .'" 2 Samuel III, 38. 

These are the words of David, and refer to the assassination 
of Abner, the captain of the armies of Israel, under the house 
of Saul. " The king lamented over Abner, and said. Died 
Abner as a fool dieth ? Thy hands were not bound nor thy 
feet put into fetters : as a man fallest before wicked men, so 
fellest thou. * * * And they buried Abner in Hebron. 
And the king lifted up his voice and wept. * * * And the 
king said unto his servants : Know ye not that there is a prince 
and a great man fallen this day in Israel ?" 

The words of David apply to us with greater force than they 
did to the Elders of Judah. 'Tis not for a subordinate we 
mourn, but for our chief magistrate struck down by a treach- 
erous assassin. Yes ! Fellow-citizens we know " that a, prince 
and a great man has fallen :" a man princely in himself, princely 
in his official station. It may be questionable whether his 
exalted position graced him, more than he the position. Alas ! 
We know also that this prince, this great man has fallen. The 
ways of Providence are inscrutable. If it is true of nations, 
as of individuals, that " whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, 
that chastisements combined with blessings, turned into bless- 
ings, are evidence of Jehovah's love ; then may Ave feel assured 
of the Divine regard. Our blessings have been beyond the 



A SERMON ON THE DEATH OF 



limit of human reckoning ; our chastisements, terrible. Yet 
in these there is hope. Like the Sinai tic bush we have burned, 
but are not consumed. We have confidence, that this last, 
terrible blow of the Almighty's hand, will consolidate the 
nation, plant more deeply, fix more firmly, the foundations of 
the government. God knoweth how to make the wrath of man 
to praise him ; and the remainder thereof he will restrain. 

In this Providence we believe mercy to be mingled with 
anger. Anger we deserve for our sins: the mercy is of the 
sovereign grace of our God. The mercy we may not see ; but 
we can believe. In our recent rejoicings we may have said, 
" Our arm, our right-hand hath gotten us the victory :" like 
Nebuchadnezzar : " Is not this great Babylon that / have built 
for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, and 
for the honor of my majesty ?" With terrible distinctness God 
sa} s to us : " It is better to trust in the Lord, than to put con- 
fidence in men. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put 
confidence in princes." " Put not your trust in princes, nor 
in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth 
forth ; he returneth to his earth ; in that very day his thoughts 
perish. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, 
whose hope is in the Lord his God." " Yea, happy is that 
people whose God is the Lord." Men, the noblest and the 
best, pass away. God abideth forever. In this our national 
bereavement God has asserted Ms power, his supfemacy. We 
believe he has also purposed to prove to all men that there is 
no form or severity of trial, no strain, however intense which, 
with his blessing, our Free Institutions can not sustain. By 
this, he makes us a more certain beacon of hope ; a more cer- 
tain refuge for the oppressed. 

But, Fellow-citizens, with all our confidence in God, and in 
his purpose to establish and strengthen our government found- 
ed on the principles of liberty ; with our confidence that even 
our terrible bereavement shall effect and was designed of God 
to effect tbis, we come here to-day mourners, stricken mourners. 
Trust in God does not conflict with our sadness. With dis- 
turbing care, with untrusting anxiety, it does conflict, but not 
with sadness. While we submit, submit willingly, and say, 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 



" It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good," we sub- 
mit with sorrowful hearts. Deep, overwhelming, has been the 
grief of this great people ; all the more terrible because it has 
fallen on us, from whose hearts the tidings of the brilliant and 
decisive success of our arms was lifting a heavy burden of care. 
The memories of the second week of April 1865 will never be 
forgotten. The surrender of Gen. Lee with his rebel army, 
virtually ending the war and securing the triumph of the nation 
and the government, announced in the commencement of the 
week, awaked in our hearts a wild throb of joy, of gratitude, 
of thanksgiving, of praise, too deep for utterance. The closing 
hours of the week announced the assassination, the death of the 
President. Our joy was turned into sorrow, our laughter into 
mourning, our rejoicing into heaviness. The bells, which from 
every spire in the land had rung merry peals of joy and tri- 
umph, tolled a s:id requiem to the honored dead. The ball 
which pierced the bead of the President reached the heart of 
the nation. For a moment its pulse stood still. Then gloom, 
horror, indignation, sorrow, sat on every brow. Emotions 
struggling in the breast found expression in the heaving bosom, 
the pressure of the hand, the gushing tear. 'Tis passed. The 
national purpose is deepened ; fixed, unalterably, irresistably, 
to complete the triumph of those principles for which Abra- 
ham Lincoln lived, a martyr to which he died. If one more 
act was needed to impel the American people to purge them- 
selves forever of the foul blot of American Slavery, that deed 
has been done. That system o.f human bondage which caused 
the cowa,rdly attack on Charles Sumner in the Senate Chamber 
of the United States ; which has deluged our land with blood ; 
which has culminated in the assassination of our noble Presi- 
dent, must now and forever cease to exist. To whatever pro- 
tection it may once have been entitled by the Constitution of 
the United States, this it has forfeited by denying the Consti- 
tution, by an appeal to arms. Under whatever moral obliga- 
tion the people of the non-slaveholding States may have been 
to non-interference with the system in the slave-holding States ; 
from that obligation they are released by the crime of the 
slave-holders themselves. Henceforward all the institutions of 



A SERMON ON THE DEATH OF 



our country shall recognize " Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of 
Happiness" among the inalienable rights of all men. 

'Tis appropriate on an occasion like this, that memories of 
the illustrious dead should largely occupy our thoughts. The 
theme is too extended, the time too limited for minute review, 
but the solemnities of the occasion, the sympathy and affection 
of your hearts, will engage for it your .attention howsoever 
imperfectly and inadequately presented. To give you inform- 
ation in regard to one who, during the past few years, has been 
the observed of all observers, the central figure in the gigantic 
conflict in which you have poured out your blood and your 
treasure like water, is no part of my purpose ; but to solace 
our sorrows and assuage our grief by dwelling on the virtues 
exhibited in him who has been the great leader of the nation. 
He has been taken from us by an enormity of crime which 
hardly finds its parallel in the annals of time ; but his history, 
his virtues, are the inalienable possession of the American 
people. 

Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President of the United 
States was born July 12th, 1809, in the county of Hardin, 
Kentucky. His parents came from Virginia : his earlier an- 
cestors from Pennsylvania. In 1816 he removed to what is 
now called Spencer county, Indiana. There he was inured to 
all the hardships of frontier life. He was robust, athletic, and 
could wield efficiently the ax, the rifle and the plough. At the 
age of 21 he removed to the state of Illinois and labored as 
farmer, as boatman and at the anvil. In 1832 Mr. Lincoln, 
then 23 years of age, commanded a company of volunteers, 
raised by order of the Governor of Illinois, to fight the Indians 
in what is known as the Black-Hawk war. At its close he 
returned to Sangamon county where he studied and practiced 
surveying, till the financial crash of 1837 rendered it no longer 
profitable. His surveying apparatus was sold on execution by 
the shei-iff. He then turned his attention to the law, borrow- 
ing books in the evening from the office of a friend, studying 
them late in the night by the light of a log fire, and returning 
them in the morning. About this date he was elected three 
times successively to the Legislature of Illinois. He continued 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 



his study of the law, and opened an office in Springfield, where 
he has since resided. His name was placed on the electoral 
ticket in several Presidential elections. An ardent friend ot 
Henry Clay, in the campaign of 1844 he traversed the entire 
state of Illinois and part of Indiana, in the interest of that dis- 
tinguished Statesman and of the principles he represented. In 
1846 Mr. Lincoln was elected to Congress from the central 
district of Illinois. On the 16th of January 1849 he introduced 
resolutions into the House of Representatives, providing 
emancipation in the District of Columbia. The owners of 
slaves were to receive compensation for their true value, and 
officers of the United States government, when in the district 
on official business, were to be allowed to bring with them and 
retain their house-servants. Mr. Lincoln, previously, had voted 
against bills to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, 
because in them no compensation was given to the legal owners 
of the slaves. From 1848 to 1854 Mr. Lincoln assiduously 
engaged in the practice of his profession. His distinguished 
ability and reputation are evidenced in the fact that he was the 
chosen champion of his party to meet, in public debate before 
immense audiences in various points in his State, the Honorable 
Stephen A. Douglas. To meet that distinguished Orator and 
accomplished Debater in open field demanded in his antagonist 
no mean abilities. Whether in logic and power Mr. Lincoln 
successfully met Mr. Douglas, men undoubtedly differed. It 
is enough to state the flict that in that year, his party, for the 
first time, elected their legislative ticket ; and the fact that, in 
1858, he was nominated by them for the United States Senate 
in opposition to the nomination of Mr. Douglas. 

Previous to 1860 the reputation of Mr. Lincoln had not been, 
in a full sense, national. He was almost unknown to the peo- 
ple except in his own and the neighboring States ; but to the 
leading men of the nation he was well-known as a conservative 
opponent of slavery. In 1860 his nomination by the Chicago 
Convention as their candidate for the highest office in the gift 
of the American people^with his election November 6th, 1860, 
drew to him the attention of the world. From this date the 
history of Abraham Lincoln is the history of the nation. In 



A SERMON ON THE DEATH OF 



his words and acts in these years we find developed his charac- 
ter. He left Springfield for Washington to assume the reins 
of government, February 11th, 1861. Up to this time, though 
the whole country was deeply agitated, though open war had 
commenced and every intelligent citizen looked anxiously to 
the elected head of the new administration to indicate its policy, 
Mr. Lincoln had preserved a profound silence. On his journey 
to Washington he addressed immense concourses of people, 
and State Legislatures, sometimes briefly, sometimes more at 
length, at Toledo, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Steubenville, Pitts- - 
burg, Cleveland, Buffalo, Albany, New York, Trenton, Phila- 
delphia, Harrisburg, and Washington. As these speeches 
exhibit the character of the man. both in what he said and in 
what he refrained from saying, I cannot better accomplish my 
desire to bring Mr. Lincoln vividly before us than by such brief 
quotations as will correctly present his feelings and views at 
the time. A summary ot the thoughts presented in these 
speeches may be briefly stated thus : His reasons for his silence 
as to his policy ; his sense of the weight of the responsibility 
resting upon him ; his dependence upon the aid of the Almighty 
through the instrumentality of the American people, on whom, 
he affirmed, and not on himself, depended the issue ; his earnest 
desire for peace, his affection for the Union, and the principles 
of liberty upon which it is founded ; his attachment to the 
whole people ; his determination to protect the rights of all 
sections of the country ; with the special expression of kindly 
feelings toward the South. 

To his townsmen at Springfield, as he stepped on the plat- 
form of the car, he said : " My friends ; no one, not in my 
position, can appreciate the sadness I feel at this parting : To 
this people I owe all that I am. Here I have lived more than 
a quarter of a century. Here my children were born ; and 
here one of them lies buried. I know not how soon I shall see 
you again. A duty devolves upon me, which is, perhaps, 
greater than that which has devolved upon any other man since 
the days of Washington. He never would have succeeded 
except for the aid of Divine Providence, upon which he at all 
times relied. I feel that I cannot succeed without ' he same 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 



Divine aid which sustained him; and in the same Almighty 
Being, I place my reliance for support; and, I hope, you, my 
friends, will all pray that I may receive that Divine assistance 
without which I cannot succeed, but with which success is cer- 
tain. Again, l.bid you all an affectionate farewell." At Cin- 
cinnati he said : " Allusion has been made to the interest felt 
in relation to the policy of the new Admistration. In this I 
have received from some, a degree of credit for having kept 
silence, from others depreciation. I still think I was right. In 
the varying and repeatedly shifting scenes of the present, with- 
out a precedent which could enable me to judge for the past, it 
has seemed fitting that, before speaking upon the difficulties of 
the country, I should have gained a view of the whole field." 
In Buffalo, Mr. Lincoln said : " Your worthy Mayor has thought 
fit to express the hope that I may be able to relieve the coun- 
try from the present, or, I should say, the threatened difficul- 
ties. I am sure I bring a heart true to the work. For the 
ability to perform it, I trust in that Supreme Being, who has 
never forsaken this fiivored land, through the instrumentality 
of this great and intelligent people. Without that assistance 
I shall surely fliil ; with it I cannot fail." 

At Pittsburgh he had said, after giving his reason for his 
silence on his policy : " When I do speak, fellow-citizens, I 
hope to say nothing in opposition to the spirit of the Consti- 
tution, contrary to the integrity of the Union, or which will, 
in any way, prove inimical to the liberties of the people, or to 
the peace of the whole country." 

In Albany, Mr. Lincoln said : " I am notified by your Gov- 
ernor, that this reception is tendered by citizens without dis- 
tinction of party. Because of this, I accept it the more gladly. 
In this country, and in any country, where freedom of thought 
is tolerated, citizens attach themselves to political parties. It 
is but an ordinary degree of charity to attribute this act to the 
supposition that, in thus attaching themselves to the various 
parties, each man, in his own judgment, supposes he thereby 
best advances the interest of the whole country ; and when an 
election is passed it is altogether becoming a free people that, 
until the next election, they should be one people. The recep- 



10 A SERMON ON THE DEATH OF 



tion you have extended me to-day, is not given to me person- 
ally. If the election had fallen to any of the more distin- 
guished citizens, who received, the support of the people, this 
same honor should have greeted him, that greets me this day 
in testimony of the unanimous devotion of the whole people 
to the Constitution, to the Union, and to the perpetual liberties 
of succeeding generations in this country. * * * These 
manifestations show that we all make common cause for these 
objects; that if some of us are successful in an election, and 
others are beaten, those who are beaten are not in favor of 
sinking the ship in consequence of defeat, but are earnest in 
their purpose to sail it safely through the voyage in hand, and, 
in so far as they may think there has been any mistake in an 
election, satisfying themselves to take their chance at setting 
the matter right the next time. That course is entirely right. 
I am not sure, 1 do not pretend to be sure, that in the selection 
of the individual who has been elected this term, the wisest 
choice has been made. I fear it has not." 

In Philadelphia, Mr. Lincoln said, in Independence Hall, " I 
can say m return, sir, that all the political sentiments I enter- 
tain have been drawn, so far as I have been able to draw them, 
from the sentiments which originated and were given to the 
world from this Hall. I never had a feeling politically that 
did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declara- 
tion of Independence. * * * I have often inquired of 
myself what great principle or idea it was that kept this Con- 
federacy so long together. It was not the mere matter of 
separation of the Colonies from the mother-land, but that 
sentiment in the Declaration of Independence, which gave 
liberty not alone to people of this country, but I hope to the 
world, for all future time." 

In reply to an address from the Mayor of Washington he 
said : " As it is the first time in my life, since the present phase 
of politics has presented itself in this country, that I have said 
any thing publicly within a region of country where the insti- 
tution of slavery exists, I will take this occasion to say, that I 
think very much of the ill-feeling that has existed, and still 
exists, between the people in the sections from which I came 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 



11 



and the people here, is dependent upon a misunderstanding of 
one another, I therefore avail myself of this opportnnity to 
assure you, Mr. Mayor, and all the gentlemen present, that I 
have not now and never have had, any other than as kindly 
feelings towards you, as toward the people of my own section. 
I have not now and never have had, any disposition to treat 
you in any respect otherwise than as my own neighbors. I 
have not now any purpose to withhold from you any benefits 
of the Constitution, under any circumstances, that I would riot 
feel myself constrained to withhold them from my own neigh- 
bors." Subsequently, to the people he said : " We are in no 
■wise disposed, if it were in our power, to oppress you, to 
deprive you of any of your rights under the Constitution of 
the United States, or even narrowly to split hairs with you 
in regard to these rights, but are determined to give you, 
as far as lies in our hands, all your rights under the Constitu- 
tion, not grudgingly, but fully and fairly. I hope that by thus 
dealing with you, we will be better acquainted and be better 
friends." 

My design in presenting these extracts and in this whole 
discourse, is not to present Mr. Lincoln's views on the various 
political topics which, by the course of events, have been 
presented to him for consideration and action. Time is not 
sufficient, nor is the place or time suitable, nor the speaker 
competent to do the theme justice ; I desire simply and plainly 
to. present before our minds the man whom we love ; whose 
memory we are this day assembled to honor, in those shining 
personal and patriotic qualities which have endeared him to 
the nation ; and I have thought, that this object is better 
attained by presenting his own words in speeches and letters 
less fornial than his official documents. In these we see the 
man more prominently, while we see, scarcely less than in his 
official messages and proclamations, the statesman, the jurist, 
the logician, and the patriot. Good men may and will differ 
from Mr. Lincoln on some points of policy more or less 
important, but, I think, a candid reading of his honest, straight 
forward, matter of fact, practical, lucid statements of his views, 
will always bring the conviction that he perfectly knew his 



12 



A SERMON ON THE DEATH OF 



own views, and conscientiously held them ; that the epithet, 
" honest," so often affixed to his name, is no misnomer, but a 
veritahle statement of fact. 

Though he affirmed the necessity and therefore the propriety 
of arbitrary arrests, and assumed the responsibility of sus- 
pending the writ of habeas corpus, I do not remember any 
individual case, originating in his personal direction, of which 
complaint has been made. In sustaining the acts of his subor- 
dinates in the application of these powers which he had felt 
authorized and bound to assume, very often the most delicate 
questions would arise. It was impossible for the President to 
infuse into all of those who acted in his name his own prudence 
and high sense of justice. Yet by reason of the vastness of 
the work he must necessarily employ an immensely large 
number of agents ; nor was he always entirely free in his 
selection. He had to deal with human nature as it is, not as it 
ought to be. His subordinates might and, doubtless, did 
sometimes apply arbitrary powers where he never would have 
done it ; yet, when once done, it was not always that the act 
of a subordinate, done in good faith but with indiscretion, 
could be ignored without injury to their necessary authority 
and therefore to the cause. It is one thing not to do a thing, 
another to undo it when it is done. In cases clearly involving 
injustice, or involving important principles, he did frequently 
interfere and annul the acts of those who represented him ; 
thus evincing the integrity of his own purpose. 

In his message of December, 1861, Mr. Lincoln succinctly 
expresses his own view of the nature of the contest in which 
the nation has been engaged, but which, we trust, is now ter- 
minated. He says : " It continues to develop that the insur- 
rection is largely, if not exclusively, a war upon the first 
principles of popular government, the rights of the people. 
Conclusive evidence of this is found in the most grave and 
maturely considered public documents, as well as in the general 
tone of the insurgents. In these documents we find the 
abridgement of the existing right of suffi'age, and the denial to 
the people of all right to participate in the selection of public 
officers, except the legislative, boldly advocated ; with labored 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 1 3 



arguments to prove the large control of the people in the 
government is the source of all political evil. Monarchy itself 
is sometimes hinted at as a possible refuge from the power of 
the people. In my present position I could scarcely be justified 
were I to omit raising a warning voice against this approach to 
returning despotism." 

In March, 1864, to an Association of the Working-men of 
New York, he says : " You comprehend, as your address 
shows, that the existing rebellion means more and tends to 
more, than the perpetuation of African Slavery ; that it is in 
fact a war upon the rights of all working people. * * * 
None are so deeply interested to resist the present rebellion, 
as the working people. Let them beware of prejudices work- 
ing division and hostility among themselves. * * * The 
strongest bond of human sympathy, outside of the family 
relation, should be one uniting all working people of all nations 
and tongues, and kindred. Nor should this lead to a war on 
property, or the owners of property. Property is the fruit of 
labor. Property is desirable ; is a positive good in the world. 
That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, 
and hence is a just encouragement to industry and enterprise. 
Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another, 
but let him labor diligently to build one for himself; thus by 
example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when 
built." These are plain, pointed, honest, wise words. 

With such views of the far-reaching nature of the principles 
underlying the contest between the government and the rebel- 
lion, it is no wonder that Mr. Lincoln would not compromise ; 
that he had faith in ultimate success. On the question whether 
facts justify Mr. Lincoln's view of the contest men may differ. 
That he sincerely and earnestly entertained these views, none 
can reasonably doubt. 

But the chief, almost engrossing subject on which good men 
and patriots differed, was the just and true course the govern- 
ment should adopt with reference to Southern Slavery. On 
this question Mr. Lincoln has been accused of vacillating, of 
swerving from his original plan ; of yielding to pressure. From 
this charge, in any obnoxious sense, I feel convinced, impartial 



14 A SERMON ON THE DEATH OF 



history will free him ; nay, I think, he is already freed from it 
in the minds of nearly all. That he changed his course to mieet 
changed circumstances, is true, but he did not change the prin- 
ciples which controlled his action. He did yield to pressure; 
but it was to pressure created by the " logic of events ;" he 
did not yield to party, sectional or popular clamor. In adapt- 
ing his policy to changing events he proved himself a wise, 
common-sense, intelligent statesman. To adopt a fixed, inflex- 
ible policy which changing circumstances must not vary, is 
folly. It is either inanity, or amounts to a claim of Pre-sci- 
ence or of Omnipotence. Mr. Lincoln has left a clear, brief 
statement of his views and action with reference to slavery, in 
a letter addressed, April 4, 1864, to a citizen of Kentucky. 
He says : " I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not 
wrong, nothing is wrong. I cannot remember when I did not 
so think and feel ; and yet, I have never understood that the 
Presidency conferred upon me an unrestricted right to act 
officially upon this judgment and feeling. It was in the oath 
I took, that I would, to the best of my ability preserve, protect, 
and defend the Constitution of the United States. I could not 
take the office without taking the oath. Nor was it in my 
view that I might take the oath to get the power, and break 
the oath in using the power. I understood, too, that in ordi- 
nary civil administration, this oath even forbade me to practi- 
cally indulge my primary abstract judgment on the question 
of slavery. I had publicly declared this many times and in 
many ways ; and I aver that, to this day, I have done no official 
act in mere deference to my abstract judgment and feeling on 
slavery. I did understand, however, that my oath to preserve 
the Constitution to the best of my ability, imposed upon me 
the duty of preserving, by every indispensable means, that 
government, that nation, of which that Constitution was the 
organic law. Was it possible to lose the nation, and yet pre- 
serve the Constitution 1 By general law, life a7id limb must 
be protected ; yet often a limb must be amputated to save a 
life ; but a life is never wisely given to save a limb. I felt 
that measures, otherwise unconstitutional might become lawful 
by becoming indispensable to the preservation of the Consti- 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 15 



tution, through the preservation of the nation. Right or 
wrong I assumed this ground, and I now avow it. * * When, 
early in the war. General Fremont attempted military emanci- 
pation, I forbade it, because I did not then think it an indispensa- 
ble necessity. When a little later, General Cameron, then 
Secretary of War, suggested the arming of the blacks; I objected, 
because I did not yet think it an indispensable necessity. 
When, still later. Gen. Hunter attempted military emancipa- 
tion, I forbade it, because I did not yet think the indispensable 
necessity had come. When in March, and May, and July, 
1862, I made earnest and successive appeals to the Border 
States to favor compensated emancipation, I believed the 
indispensable necessity for military emancipation and arming 
the blacks would come, unless averted by that measure. They 
declined the proposition ; and I was, in my best judgment, 
driven to the alternative of either surrendering the Union, and 
with it the Constitution, or of laying strong hand on the colored 
element; I chose the latter. * * * i claim not to have 
controlled events ; but confess plainly that events have con- 
trolled me." 

There is in this letter a noble ingenuousness, a plain, honest, 
unvarnished way of telling his views, which -impresses upon 
my mind, the honesty, integrity, and disinterested patriotism 
of him who wrote it. And who, in the light of present events, 
will confidently question the wisdom of the course pilrsued by 
Mr. Lincoln ? He held that he was sacredly bound to preserve 
inviolate the Constitution until, by reason of the gigantic pi'O- 
portions of the rebellion, an indispensable necessity required 
the violation of a direction not vitally essential to it, to save 
both the nation and the Constitution. Only at the last moment, 
according to his best judgment, does he do this. 

It is impossible for us fully, or even measurably, to enter 
into all the difficulties which beset our Rulers, especially in 
such times and on such subjects as these. " I am approached," 
said Mr. Lincoln, "with the most opposite opinions and advice, 
and that by religious men, who are equally certain that they 
represent the Divine will. I am sure either one or the other 
class is mistaken in that belief; and, perhaps, in some respects, 
both." 



16 A SERMON ON THE DEATH OF 



I have not the time, and it is, probably, unnecessary for me 
to quote from his last brief, but comprehensive inaugural. It 
breathes a truly devout spirit. He closes by saying : " With 
malice tovpard none, with charity toward all, with firmness in 
the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to 
finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to 
care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow 
and his orphans ; to do all which may achieve and cherish a 
just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations." 
Fellow-citizens : the words, the thoughts, — the heart of the 
mighty dead has passed in review before you. Clear in per- 
ception, perspicuous in statement, fixed but not stereotyped in 
purpose, eminently practical, of unblemished integrity, disin- 
terestedly patriotic, he is worthy of your high love. He has 
been the exponent of great principles, the leader of the nation 
in its conflict for existence, the instrument of its complete tri- 
umph. This man whom the nation delights to honor, upon 
whose wisdom and patriotisrft it has leaned, has been struck 
down by a treacherous assassin. We thank God for the work 
he was spared to accomplish, that his death came not till he 
had visited the captured capital of the rebellion, witnessed the 
complete success of our arms, the establishment of the gov- 
ernment and the vindication of his own policy. Yet we mourn 
his death ; his death effected by an atrocity of crime scarcely 
paralleled ift history. In the nobility of the victim and im- 
portance of his life it finds its nearest counterpart in the assas- 
sination of William of Orange, the founder of the Dutch 
Republic, the Washington of Holland. In free America such 
a deed could hardly be deemed possible. We cannot but 
regard it as a product of slavery, that hot-bed of crime. 

The blood of the President has not been spilled in vain. It 
has enriched the heart, the history of the nation. He being 
dead yet speaketh. It has nerved the nation to greater firm- 
ness in its purpose to root out the rebellion and its cause. It 
will undeceive all in foreign nations who, hitherto, have been 
misled as to the real issue in the conflict. 

On the subject of religion, the President has stated that 
since his occupancy of thj Presidency he has consecrated him- 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN 17 



self to Christ. He stated this in answer to the question by a 
friend, " Mr. Lincoln, do you love Jesus 1" A public print 
has stated that it was the President's custom to rise early and 
to devote some time each morning to reading the Scriptures, 
While speaking of his Christian hope, I am constrained in 
conscience to say one word on the place of his assassination. 
I believe I express the feelings of hundreds of thousands of the 
President's firmest and most attached supporters, when I say. 
Would God, death had not met him there. It is not for us to 
judge each other. To his own Master each standeth or falleth. 
In view of his words and life, in view of his eminently kind 
and forgiving spirit, in view of his habitual prayer and study 
of the Scriptures, in view of his avowed love for Jesus and 
trust in Him, we indulge the fond hope that Mr. Lincoln is 
now in heaven at the feet of Jesus ; that, before the glory 
which now encircles his brow, the glory of his earthly eleva- 
tion pales to dimness. 

It is meet that we express our horror and detestation of the 
deed which, on the 15th of April deprived us of Abraham 
Lincoln : it is meet also that we pray that the perpetrator of 
the deed, and that other assassin who, (we trust in vain) 
attempted the life of our Secretary of State, with all in 
conspiracy with them may receive the awful punishment 
merited by their crimes. Mercy to the law-abiding and the 
innocent demands that the extreme penalty of the law be 
inflicted on such criminals. I do not forget that we too are 
sinners dependent on the mercy of God ; that we have been 
rebels against the Divine government. Invoking upon them 
the extreme penalty of human law, we would not forget that 
the Lord of life prayed for his own murderers ; we would pray 
that their hearts may be turned to true and unfeigned repen- 
tance of their awful crime. 

One word more and I am done. Let us all, as one man, 
rally around him whom God has called to fill the place of the 
dead. Whatever may have been our individual views of his 
personal fitness or unfitness to meet the responsibilities which 
now rest upon him, every consideration of duty impels us to 
give him our hearty sympathy, our cordial support. Let us 



18 A SERMON. 



all pray, often and fervently, that he may have wisdom and 
grace given him from on high ; that his administration may be 
as eminently successful in solving the problems which peace 
presents, as his Predecessor's has been in over-throwing the 
rebellion. God is able to make all grace abound to him. Let 
us have confidence in God. God will bring good out of evil. 
Fellow-citizens ; as you think of the honored dead, of the 
eternity into which he was so suddenly summoned, remember 
you too are traveling thitherward ; your summons may come 
as unexpectedly. " What I say unto you, I say unto all ; 
Watch !" " Fear not them which kill the body, but are 
not able to kill the soul ; but rather fear him who is able to 
destroy both soul and body in hell." 

THE END. 



II. 



§^^0luti0w^. 



Whkrkas, American Slavery, conceived in sin and brought 
forth in iniquity, having signally failed to secure, through any 
political organization, that absolute control of the government 
of these United States, which it had so insolently demanded ; 
has, more recently, resorted to frauds the most stupendous in 
history, violence unparalleled among Christian nations, treason 
the most nefarious, and rebellion more unprovoked, more atro- 
cious, more thoroughly fiendish than any other since the revolt 
and fall of Lucifer himself, in order to accomplish its fell pur- 
poses; and. 

Whereas, this rebellion, planned and executed by and in 
behalf of the Moloch of Slavery, has been marked from first 
to last, by the most inhuman barbarities in general, by frequent 
massacres in cold blood of unarmed and defenceless citizens, 
by every conceivable form of outrage and cruelty, by the de- 
liberate starvation, even to death, of more than 50,000 captured 
and helpless prisoners, and lastly, by the dastardly assassina- 
tion of the duly elected President of these United States, and 
the attempted assassination of others : 

Therefore^ Resolved, That as citizens of this good Govern- 
ment, as patriots still having a native or adopted land to love, 
as Christians yet having a country worthy of our best affections 
and our most ardent prayers ; we will faithfully and courage- 
ously discharge every civil duty, bravely bear every patriotic 
burden, and manfully meet every Christian obligation to the 
glorious end that the great rebellion and its wicked cause shall 
be utterly and forever crushed out and destroyed. 



RESOLUTIONS. 



Resolved, That we recognize the hand of Divine Providence, 
and cause for devout thankfulness, in raising up Abraham Lin- 
coln to be our Ruler and Leader in this great crisis of our 
nation ; and in sparing him to behold the virtual consummation 
of the mighty work assigned him by his Heavenly Father. 

Resolved, That as " the blood of martyrs is the seed of the 
Church," so the blood of our great Martyr of Freedom, while 
it rises as a swift witness against the treason of rebellion, will 
everywhere multiply converts, as drops of the morning dew, 
to the standard Universal Liberty. 

Resolved, That, as we bend over the grave of Abraham 
Lincoln, the honest, the good, and the true, we bend as fellow- 
mourners with all others that mourn ; and we weep most sin- 
cerely with all that weep. 

Resolved, That in the successor of Abraham Lincoln to the 
Presidency, Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, we discern the 
tried and true Patriot, the clear-headed Legislator, and the 
courageous Executive. That, as we have prayed without ceas- 
ing for his murdered predecessor, so will we continue to pray 
for the living successor ; and that we will heartily support him 
in every right endeavor to complete the great work so well 
begun by him whom we mourn to-day. 

Resolved, That to every intelligent and influential leader in 
the rebellion, we demand that stern justice be meted out in 
fullest measure. 

Resolved, That in the overwhelming calamity that has sud- 
denly befallen this great People ; we do distinctly trace the 
chastening hand of our Father, God ; and that, through our 
blinding tears we will still look up and say, " The Lord gave 
and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the 
Lord." " Thy will, God, be done." 



Rev. R. MOREY, 
Prof. M. WEED, 

Rev. w. c. McCarthy, 

Committee on Resolutions. 



III. 



Mt ^mm 0f i^ittlu 



BY JOHN M'INTOSH. 



Gone, gone, gone, 
And the Nation is shrouded in black ; 

Moan, moan, moan. 
For the Good that will never come back. 
The Lofty of Faith, and the Wise, 

The Upright, the Honest, the Brave, 
In the chamber of Death lowly lies. 

The Friend of the Master and Slave, 
Alike, was the Patriot we mourn. 

A Nation in tears at his grave, 
All scarred with the Battle, and torn. 
And weary, and bleeding and worn 

With struggling fair Freedom to save. 
Stands gasping and voiceless with woe, 
Stands stunned with the mystical blow, 
Stands bendingly, reverently low, 
Stands fearfully, questioning why 
This thunderbolt leaped from the cloud. 
These plumes, and this grave, with the shroud 
Should flaunt and should yawn to the sky- 
Hush ! give his great heart to the sod. 
His spirit's already with God. 

Up, up, leave our women to deck 
The grave of the Martyr with flowers. 
The tear path and weapon he ours '■ 
Our trail he the MURDERER'S track ! 



22 THE MISSION OF DEATH. 



No rest for the sole of the foot, 

No peace for the heart and the hand, 
Till torn from its hell-nourished root 

Lies lifeless the Curse of our Land ; — 
The Curse of the Fetter and Gyve, 

The Curse of the Lash and the Knife, 
The Curse that keeps Monsters alive 

To stab at the National Life ; 
The Curse that engendered the thought, 

That nurtured the Heart where it grew ; 
The Curse of a System Infernal that brought 

The death of our Chieftain so true. 

This, this, is the gist of the mission to you. 
The hearts of the Pkople it solders in one, 
The sword of the Lord and of Gideon is drawn. 



Dead ! dead ! dead ! 
Alas ! that the Nation should need 
Its Best and its Bravest to bleed ; 
That the tears of its Maidens and Wives 
Should flow for the sacrificed Lives 

That die on the altar of Wrong ;— 

The Young, and the Brave and the Strong. 
Hush! out of those Treasures of Blood, 

Of Agonies, Tortures, and Tears, 
Shall spring up a harvest of Good 

Enriching Futurity's years ; 
And out of the Tempest of Sighs 

That wails o'er the grave of our Chief, 
Brave pledges will mount to the Skies, 

And Joy will be born of our Grief. 
O'er the grave of the Gentle and True, 

Great God of the Faithful and Free, 
Our Love and our Vows we renew 

To Liberty, Duty and Thee. 
An altar to Justice we made 

At the hour when his Spirit arose, 
And the first worthy Offering laid 

Shall be the foul Heart of his Foes. 



THE MISSION OF DEATH. 23 



Its colls where the Treason was hatched 

That flooded with Horror our Land, 
By the knife of the High Priest unlatched, 

We'll give to the Fire and the Brand ; — 
The fire of the Wrath and the Scorn 

That burns in the Soul when the Eight 
Aroused by the Godlike, in majesty borne, 

Descends upon Wrong in its might. 

This, this is the Mission of Death in our Fight 
The hearts of the People it solders in one. 
The sword of the Lord and of Gideon is drawn. 



LB S '12 



i 



